Bad weather or not, road show must go on

On one of the country's busiest holiday travel days Tuesday, Donald Conley and his golden retriever, Jack, paced a walking path at a Massachusetts Turnpike's rest area in Charlton.

Mr. Conley and his wife, Trish, drove from Marco Island, Fla., to Moltonborough, N.H., to have Thanksgiving dinner with their daughter, her husband, a grandson and a newly adopted granddaughter from Ethiopia.

Jack prompted the decision to drive.

“He's been a great traveler,” Mr. Conley, a retired Nashua, N.H., police chief, said as he petted the 90-pound dog. “Likes to ride. Gets a little rambunctious in the hotel room.”

Expecting to arrive at their destination later Tuesday, Mr. Conley said the decision to leave Sunday instead of Monday turned out to be a good one. They avoided nasty weather following them from Virginia and Pennsylvania.

For most of Massachusetts, rain and cold is in the forecast and may make this year's Thanksgiving “a tricky holiday,” said Mary Maguire, the Massachusetts spokeswoman for AAA Southern New England.

Slicks roads are expected throughout the state, with icing in the Berkshires, she said.

The agency said it hoped motorists will have already filled their gasoline tanks Tuesday because service stations will be congested with last-minute fill-ups Wednesday.

Also, increased Thanksgiving demand may result in a slight uptick in cost, Ms. Maguire said.

From today to Sunday, AAA projects 43.4 million people will commute throughout the country, of which slightly less than 39 million people will drive, and slightly more than 3.1 million, or 3.7 percent, will travel by air, Ms. Maguire said.

Though not a dramatic shift, travel will be down 1.5 percent, as 44 million people traveled during Thanksgiving 2012, she said, attributing the decline to the economy improving at a sluggish pace, the sequester and the recent government shutdown.

But the state Department of Transportation said Massachusetts anticipates record volume of traffic on highways and at Logan International Airport in Boston during the Thanksgiving season, with particularly heavy traffic volume on highways Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday.

Exit 9 on the turnpike, the interchange with Interstate 84 in Sturbridge, Exit 11A on the turnpike for Interstate 495, Exit 14 for I-95 and Route 128, and Exit 24 for I-93 are expected to have the heaviest volume, the DOT said.

Spokeswoman Sara Lavoie said Plymouth Rock Assurance will sponsor free tolls at the Exit 19 Allston/Brighton interchange on the turnpike from 3 to 4 p.m. Wednesday.

On Thanksgiving night, free coffee will be served from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Friday at the DOT's 18 service plazas.

Ms. Maguire of AAA said people will spend less money to travel this Thanksgiving. A projected $465 will be spent per person, compared to $498 12 months ago.

Regular gas in Massachusetts was $3.38 a gallon from Nov. 20 to Nov. 26. Last year at this time it was $3.61, according to the state.

The lower cost could spur some people to make a last-minute decision to drive, Ms. Maguire said. But most people plan their Thanksgiving travel ahead of time, she said.

In Sturbridge Tuesday, Ryan Connelly of Woodbury, Conn., had no complaints about the cost of local gas.

He said gas was about $3.65 per gallon in his hometown. In Sturbridge, it was less than $3.30.

“I'm going to fill up here and go back home,” said Mr. Connelly.

Mr. Connelly, 18, was waiting at Yankee Spirits in Sturbridge with longtime family friend, Pearl Mancuso of Waterbury, Conn.

Mr. Connelly drove her from Waterbury to Sturbridge, where Ms. Mancuso was to meet her son, who will take her to Boston for Thanksgiving.

Meanwhile, Mr. Conley, the Florida man who stayed in hotels in Orangeburg, S.C., and Allentown, Penn., recommended the long drive this time of year..

“We met some nice people along the way,” he said. “They're traveling families, too, you know. It's a good time of year to travel.”

When it was suggested not everyone would be cut out for a 1,600-mile drive, he said, “You just kind of pay attention because there's a lot happening on the road. But it's not so bad.”